Drought 2012: Vision Academy Soccer Players Sidelined by Dry Conditions

The "crunch" is unmistakable - Vision Soccer Academy of Waukee's fields in rural Adel are dry.

They're so dry, in fact, that the current soccer season, and potentially the fall season might have to be put on hold if Iowa doesn't start getting more rain.

Just last week, the National Weather Service's regional drought monitor showed that more than 55 percent of the state was considered in the "severe" category in terms of drought. More than 28 percent fell into the "extreme" category.

That's not good news to Carlos Acebey, executive director of the Vision Soccer Academy. The field where his players practice and play is parched and with no irrigation system, Acebey is having to make other plans.

"I probably started to notice it really in late June, early July," he said of the dry conditions. "Once we started planning for our July clinics, we really started feeling a bit of a crunch in terms of, 'Can we be on the field and will it be in good condition through August?'"

The Vision Soccer Academy leases the land in the 28000 block of 300th Street from Overhome Farms, a sod farm just a mile west of Waukee. Like all other farms, dry conditions are affecting some of the farms crops, according to the farm's Facebook page.

"Right now we're talking to the landowner and plotting a map for how we’re going to do this," he said. "We’re trying to stay off it as much as possible. Every portion of that land is in poor shape right now. If we were to play on it, we'd end up playing on dirt. It's not in good condition."

For now, Acebey said he's doing everything he can to find places where the Academy's 300 summer soccer players can still practice. Come fall, he'll need to find a more permanent solution for the 1,000-plus players signed up for the next season.

"It worries me because people will look at it and compare us to the competition we have as far as soccer in the area," Acebey said. "There are other organizations in the pyramid and only one in Waukee. We compete with Urbandale, Johnston, and West Des Moines soccer clubs. It’s a big concern. We are somewhat scrambling at this point. It’s difficult to transfer or move all that we’re doing somewhere else."

For more information on the Vision Soccer Academy, visit their website or Facebook page.